to help us to understand and deconstruct capitalism in order to create a sustainable and peaceful social system.

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, February 22, 2016

Epilogue: Argentina The End of Post Neoliberalism and the Rise of the Hard Right

Because the New Deal-like policies of the Kirchner governments failed to substantially improve Argentina's economy after the neoliberal collapse in 2000 and 2002, the ruling capitalist class in Argentina decided to make a right-turn into what Petras describes as a "neo-liberal counter-revolution". Petras reports on the many indications of this right-turn.

The class struggle from above found its most intense , comprehensive and retrograde expression in Argentina, with the election of Mauricio Macri (December 2015). During the first two months in office, through the arbitrary assumption of emergency powers, he reversed, by decree, a multitude of progressive socio-economic policies passed over the previous decade and sought to purge public institutions of independent voices.